The Hindu : Bahniman and Krishna Deka triumph

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 08, 2002

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Bahniman and Krishna Deka triumph

CHENNAI JULY 7 Two top seeds from Assam both national champions, Bahniman Bora in the junior boys section and Krishna Deka Raja in the junior girls section kept their reputation intact in low key title-clashes on the final day of the Krishna Khaitan memorial junior badminton tournament at the Nehru indoor stadium on Sunday.

The two junior singles events were billed as the key programme of the evening but if Nishad Dravid's aggression fizzled out like a punctured balloon against Bora then Aditi Mutatkar, who had claimed the Under-16 title in the morning, did not have the fight in her to trouble Krishna.

However the start in the boys final held promise particularly the way Nishad, who hails from Dhuliya in Maharashtra, breathed fire with his sure shot smashes. Bora had to adjust to the situation. He was also getting distracted by the wind drift in the ball, which affected the trajectory of the shuttle. As it happened Nishad's aggressive approach paid dividends straightaway. But Guwahati lad Bora, a highly talented lad knew the way to wriggle out. Controlling the pace of the contest and testing Nishad's reach with deceptive cross court and close to net returns, Bora was back in business. Inexplicably the Maharashtra lad began to back pedal. The end was tame, something that even Nishad could not reason in his post-match talk.

Aditi can be gritty. She showed it in the semi-final on Saturday when after straining her hamstring muscle and losing a game because of it, she bounced back to put it across Andhra Pradesh's Srilakshmi. But Krishna Deka Raja was a different player. A trainee at SAI centre in Bangalore, the Assamese hardly gives away a point. Quick in her movements and assured near the net, Krishna did not waste time to put Aditi on the defensive. The two are traditional rivals and as has been the trend, Krishna came out trumps. However as she admitted, she had expected Aditi to give a tougher resistance.

It was memorable outings for two others in particular, Saina Nehwal (Under-13) and T. Dinesh (Under-16), both from Andhra Pradesh. Both bagged a double crown each.

* Mr N.P. Singh, Commissioner of Income Tax, was the chief guest and gave away the prizes.

The results:

Boys: Under-19: Final: Bahniman Bora (Asm) beat Nishad Dravid (Mah) 8-15, 15-4, 15-10; Doubles: Vikas Reddy (AP) and Bidan Balan (Ker) beat Sarat Chandra and Jayan James (AP) 15-13, 9-15, 15-10; (Semi-final): Sarath Chandra and Jayan James beat Vineeth Manual and Sandeep Luis (Ker) 17-15, 7-15, 15-11; R. Vikas Reddy and Bidin Balan beat Nishad Dravid (Mah) and Bahniman Bora (Asm) 12-15, 15-9, 15-9.

Under-16: Final: T. Dinesh (AP) beat P. Kashyap (AP) 15-8, 15-10; Doubles: T. Dinesh and L. Lokesh (AP) beat Rahul Dey and Chandra Bardoloi (Asm) 15-2, 15-7.

Under-13: Final: Arun Nandaluri (AP) beat Anurag Sharma (UP) 15- 12, 15-10; Doubles: Tarun Reddy and Saiguru Dutt (AP) beat Pratik Patel (Guj) and Gaurav Chinnappa (TN) 15-12, 2-15, 15-3. Under-10: Final: G. Eswar Rao (AP) beat Muramala Sriram (AP) 15-3, 15- 3.

Girls: Under-19:Final: Krishna Deka Raja (Asm) beat Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) 11-2, 11-1; Doubles: B.N. Aswini (Ktk) and Bibari Basumatray (Asm) beat Dhanya Nair (Mah) and Aparna Balan (Ker) 11-7, 11-7; (Semi-final): Dhanya Nair and Aparna Balan beat Shalini Prakash (Ktk) and Susan Rajan (Ker) 11-5, 11-6; B.N. Aswini and Bibari Basumataray beat Deepthi Shalini and B. Srilakshmi (AP) 11-3, 11-3.

Under-16: Final: Aditi Mutatkar (Mah) beat Abantika Deka (Asm) 11-2, 11-6; Doubles: Aparna Balan (Ker) and Saina Nehawal (AP) beat Manisha Eswarappa and Y.K. Subrata (Ktk) 11-2, 11-3; (Semi-final): Aparna Balan and Saina Nehwal beat Maduri Vijayan and G.M. Nischita (Ktk) 11-4, 11-9; Manisha Eswarappa and Y.K. Subrata (Ktk) beat Nisha Pandit and Sampada (Mah) 11-5, 11-9.

Under-13: Final Saina Nehwal (AP) beat Parsa Naqvi (UP) 11-0, 11-4; Doubles: Saina Nehwal (AP) and Pizza Bharali (Asm) beat Mudra Dhainje (Mah) and Fernaz Jasdanwala (Guj) 11-5, 11-4; (Semi-final): Mudra Dhainje and Farnaz Jasdanwala beat Pinal Barali and Vaishali (Guj) 11-0, 11-0; Saina Nehwal (AP) and Pizza Bharali (Asm) beat Nithya Sosale and Aswini Ponnappa (Ktk) 11-4, 11-4.

Under-10:Final: Monmita Srikanth (Asm) beat Rituparna Kalita (Asm) 3-11, 11-8, 11-8.

Junior mixed doubles: Dhanya Nair and Nishad Dravid (Mah) beat Bibari Basumatray and Bahniman Bora (Asm) 11-6, 11-9.

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